ouat products

I’ve been working on this for several days now and can’t really see it anymore (it’s like saying a word until it loses its meaning). Soooo, out of the nest it goes *boot* Not sure where this current trend of black/near-black backgrounds with bits of glowy pure color is coming from. Ah well, hope y’all enjoy.

And since apparently it needs to be said, while reblogging is great, please don’t take this, reedit it, use it for avatars, etc.

A Dragon’s Queen: I’ve been wanting to play more with some Dragon/Queen, plus still playing with the grunge brushes and also pushing myself to work faster, and had some time tonight. Still struggling a bit with Mal’s likeness, but getting closer. Pretty happy with it overall.

Reblog, don’t repost. Also, don’t use it for avatars, claim you painted it, cut it up and use parts of it, trace it and call it your own, or do any other bullshit, asshat thing with it. In short, Don’t Steal! It’s bad karma and it’s why artists are disappearing from fandom, I put huge disclaimers on the art, and I feel the need to write a paragraph to explain the dos and don’ts of what not to do with other people’s work. So, don’t be an asshat and respect my work and rights. Thank you.

Belle’s… completely non-faked travelling pics from the finale have certainly caught our attention, haven’t them? So we had ideas for two similar-yet-different events we could do with them.

The First Event, from the minds of @judymulder and @virgidearie, is a homage to Emilie de Ravin and this is how they explain it: We will make a photobook for Em with lots of photos of Belle in different places around the world. The idea is that you get to have Belle in your hometown, or in a place you always wanted for Belle to go. Besides each photo we also want to include a small fic drabble related to that place (no more than half a page) or any personal message you want to write for Em.

We will try our best to give this photobook to Em during the Happy Endings Paris Con (18-19th June). If you want to participate please send me your submission no later than Monday, June 5th to judymulderfbi@gmail.com General instructions: We are including below some transparents you can use for this (no need to know photoshop!). You basically can use these in PowerPoint adding any background you want. If you are a photoshop savvy you are welcome to use more complex manips like the ones that we already have out there (example1, example 2).

If you are having problems with figuring out how to use the transparents or you can’t come up with something you really like, @virgidearie will take requests from you guys. Just send her the background you want to use. You can put your text inside the pic if it is small (one sentence). If it is larger than that or a drabble, please send that to me as part of your email text. @barpurplewrites is taking prompts for small drabbles. Do not forget to include your twitter and/or tumblr nickname when you send me your work. Of course, we encourage you to post your submissions, so people get an idea of what they can make. To make these posts easier to find we suggest using the tag #Belletravelstheworld Please let me know or @virgidearie if you have any questions or suggestions.

The Second Event, which could happen at the same time as the first, is more humorous and kinda aims more at making fun of the OUAT production team, though I’m sure EDR would also appreciate these pics too and can be included in the photobook if you want!

So, basically, people who want to participate create the most outrageous and obviously fake photoshop pics of Belle in her travels. And in the end we can make a category in next year’s TEAs to pic a best pic to celebrate who was the most creative/funny. This is brilliant because you don’t really need to be talented at photoshop to participate, but rather creative (though I imagine talented photoshop artists will come up with lots of great stuff).

We post them all on twitter with the hashtag “Bellestravels” and tag A&E, ABC and so on in them. For that we’d have to pick a date (or we can make it a week, and add something of the like to the hashtag).

Playing around with inking again. Haven’t done much in years, and I think I’ve kinda forgotten how some things shift when you go from sketch to ink. Which is possibly why some stuff went … odd … in this piece. On the other hand, some of it works. And it’s interesting to try and remember the tricks of something I was once pretty good at, but haven’t really done in more than a decade.

What do you think of jens comments on the dress? I dont get it :( Where is Grace Kellys life a fairy tale? It was more like the opposite. Where does this dress show a "Balance" and "both" - I see only one side traditionally feminity and royal conservatism and where the other side needed for balance? The modern action hero Emma 'spend more time around swords then dress' Swan also represents? Where does severe catholic gown show "openness" "walls down"?

I think Jen is entitled to her opinion. She clearly has strong opinions on why she thinks the dress works. That being said, I disagree. To borrow from academia, she has a really great thesis statement that isn’t backed by the evidence.

Like you, I don’t see the balance between modernity and the traditional feminine or “princessy” lifestyle. I see Grace Kelly, who was a beautiful woman, who wore a beautiful dress to a very religious ceremony. To me, much of the symbolism that Jen was going for is lost when you a) consider the context of Grace Kelly’s dress (it had to be all covered up) and b) realize it is a replica exactly of the famous gown.

I think, to a degree, Jen interprets Emma’s openness to her more or less completely embracing her fairytale origins. It makes some sense. After all, Emma’s personal arcs through season 3 were very much centered on doing just that. As such, I can see her believing that by choosing a very “princessy” wedding gown in a modern setting/venue, it shows Emma being open to who she could have been and her life as a princess.

Jen claims to be clearly going for a balance between Emma’s two worlds, but it strikes me much more than the princess world than her modern one. I think the goal would have been more achievable had they gone with a traditional ballgown cut, but with a more daring neckline or material. Show some skin, Emma, you aren’t in a church that demands none of it!

The gown was pretty, but it doesn’t scream Emma Swan to me because it wasn’t made for Emma Swan. It was designed for someone else completely. I’m hoping we get some contextual explanation for this in the narrative, but Once isn’t exactly known for explaining character’s feelings. But, looking at the picture, I keep asking myself why she would choose this one.

Don’t get me wrong, the wedding dress doesn’t have to be her exact style. My wedding dress (mermaid cut, and blingy af) wasn’t anything the clothes I normally wear (flowy and lacy, feminine), but my friends who saw me in it all explained why it looked like me. Looking at Emma’s dress, I can’t articulate why it is her, and that’s because it wasn’t made for her. I don’t get the “not what I expected, but I can totally see it” vibe, but I just can’t see it for Emma. And I think that’s where the dress selection fails. It doesn’t have the balance, and it doesn’t show off Emma Swan.

Jen is entitled to her feelings, but unfortunately, they don’t necessarily translate to the final product.

Floof Sunday the Sixth: Sans computer access I give you my very very very first Rumbelle drawl. The grumpy pawnbroker is assailed by the cheery town librarian each morning for 28 years and he can never figure out why…

For various reasons I’ve been learning Adobe After Effects of late, and among other things, I’ve kind of…well…borrowed some OUAT footage because hey, it’s there, it’s high res, and let’s face facts, if you’re gonna be staring at something for hours (possibly screaming in frustration because the effect isn’t working the way you want), it really should be something pretty where possible (also, my cats won’t stay in frame, and rotoscoping fuzzy things could make a body drink). Anyhoo, every shot in this sequence has something done to it (though just for the record, Henry is not on my pretty scale, lol), and I thought it came out fairly well. Only real problem is I didn’t understand some of the settings when stabilizing footage and I warped the first shot a bit, but not enough to go back and redo it now.

Since it’s the end of au week, I just wanted to say a huge thank you to @captain–kitten and to all of you for so much amazing content on my dash this week - I haven’t written in a long time, but this really inspired me to start up again.

The first thing Killian Jones did when he stepped into the
house - well, their house - was
collapse onto the couch.

The first thing Emma Swan did when she stepped into their
house was collapse onto Killian Jones.

The house was cloaked in complete and utter silence. It was as if even the aching bones of their
home knew that the pirate and princess breathing each other in on the sofa had
been to hell and back for each other - and that they needed the peace.

Killian snaked his fingers into Emma’s hair, squeezing her
round locks close to his cheeks. Emma
barely moved. She simply stared up at
him, quietly memorizing each and every detail.
The gentle curve of his face as he looked back at her endearingly. The tender caress of his touch as he pulled
her close to him. The soft sadness in
the ocean that was his eyes. She didn’t
ever want to forget the way he was looking at her right now.

They stayed like that for a while, lost in the entities that
were each other. Neither of them spoke a
word.

Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, Emma inched
herself into an upright position next to Killian on the couch. They kept their fingers interlocked; she
never wanted to let him go. At last,
Killian cleared his throat.